Purpose This study explores whether and how analysts covering insurers within the European Economic Area (EEA) use the mandatory risk disclosures as required under the Solvency II framework after the introduction of the Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR). Design/methodology/approach This study is exploratory in nature and draws on evidence from eight semi-structured interviews with nine sell-side and credit analysts. Findings Dialogue with analysts documents their interest in Solvency II information, though they initially rely on solvency-related information provided during earnings calls due to later SFCR disclosure dates, duplication of material in the annual report and language barriers. Analysts underline the importance of the Solvency II ratio as a key indicator of insurers' solvency and risk. However, its direct use in the assessment process is limited by its inherent nature, comparability issues and insurers' transparency commitments, leading analysts to prioritise simplified interpretations and narrative discussions that better serve investors' informational needs. Research limitations/implications The exploration of analysts' use of Solvency II information is based on a small sample of semi-structured interviews that reflect participants' personal opinions, and it is acknowledged that generalisation of the findings might be limited. Practical implications The study contributes to related debates among regulatory authorities over the content and usefulness of Solvency II information, with the most recent and relevant being the Solvency II 2020 review. Originality/value The study offers a unique natural laboratory to explore analysts' information processing of risk disclosures, contributing to the broader and insurance-specific risk reporting literature and to the literature on the usefulness of accounting and non-accounting information for analysts.

This interdisciplinary Research Note is a reflection on a community-engaged qualitative research project that sought to integrate feminist and anti-racist principles. This Note reflects on a community-engaged project, Park Perceptions and Racialized Realities , with racialized and underserved communities to examine experiences and health equity in public urban greenspaces in Toronto, Canada. Inspired by the photographs and stories of the residents who participated in the project, the author explores what it means to move off the paths commonly travelled in research, using desire lines as a metaphor for what it means to conduct interdisciplinary research in partnership with communities, tending to both processes and outcomes with care and thought. By unpacking the words, ideas and concepts of other feminist and anti-racist scholars, the author examines the alternate paths sometimes required of qualitative research and the embodied experiences of being both insider and outsider in conducting community-based participatory research.

Freshness and physicochemical properties of breast meat from chickens slaughtered by cervical neck dislocation or transverse neck incision.

ABSTRACTThe welfare of free‐living animals in scientific studies must always be in question: do procedures and devices deployed on wildlife negatively affect their welfare? In December 2018, we captured two wild, male grey‐headed flying‐fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), given the names Brian and David, at Adelaide Botanic Park, South Australia. Brian and David, two of nine bats captured, were estimated to be 3 and 5 years old. We tagged the bats with thumb bands and surgically implanted a transmitter to monitor body temperature. Following release, body temperature data were collected (21 and 65 days, respectively). Brian was found deceased in June 2025, 6.5 years later, 2.6 km from the capture site. David was found deceased in April 2024, 5.3 years later, 9.4 km from the capture site. A necropsy was performed on each bat. This research note addresses the question: do thumb bands and transmitter implantation negatively affect the welfare of flying‐foxes? Through Brian and David's case studies, detailing the procedures, physiological data and necropsy findings, we present observations to suggest that, in these individuals, these procedures and devices had negligible impacts. While the case of two individuals offers limited power for broader inference, long‐term post‐procedure data of telemetry‐equipped animals is rare, making these observations valuable to report. We thank these bats' involuntary but valuable contribution to science and present this research note to celebrate the life of Brian and David.

Research note: Proso millet as an alternative grain source in white leghorn pullet diets.

Certain Shewanella spp. cause spoilage of seafood. However, Shewanella from fish production facilities in Canada have not yet been characterized. In our study, we first isolated Shewanella oncorhynchi S23-S33 (S2-3) from the water in a rainbow trout tank from a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility located in Alberta, Canada. Later we found another strain (FD-1) from the biofilters from the same facility. Whole genome sequencing revealed that both strains possess gene clusters for the biosynthesis of eicosapentaenoic acid and we confirmed the production in FD-1 by gas chromatography. Phylogenetic analyses showed the close relatedness of FD-1 and S2-3 to S. oncorhynchi S-1. Rainbow trout filets inoculated with FD-1 turned brown in colour compared to uninoculated. However, when we inoculated retail pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) with either FD-1 or S2-3, we did not observe the brown colour change. The storage time had a significant (P<0.0001) impact on the lightness (L*), red/green (a*), and yellow/blue (b*) of pink salmon. In summary, our research note records the preliminary characterization of Shewanella from a RAS trout facility in Alberta, Canada.

This research note presents a new dataset on more than 29,000 manuscript fragments preserved in Stockholm and Helsinki. The dataset, created by the Books of the Medieval Parish Church project (2021–2025), hosted by the National Library of Finland, integrates these fragments into a single, coherent corpus. The dataset further contributes to the metadata on the fragments by adding new information especially on their early modern reuse—which is central to provenance analysis—and harmonizing metadata from institutional databases. For the first time, the entire corpus can now be considered systematically and analysed statistically. The dataset is published open access via Zenodo, with a full description of its structure and contents.

In this note, we provide the first game-theoretic analysis of taxation and tax shifting when tanneries in Kanpur, India, which produce leather and pollute the Ganges River are taxed. We model the n≥2 tanneries as a Cournot oligopoly and a specific tax τ&gt;0 is imposed on each unit of leather produced by the polluting tanneries. We first determine the symmetric Nash equilibrium output of leather and its price with the tax. Second, we show that the rate of tax shifting by the polluting tanneries is constant. Third, we discuss how increasing either the number of tanneries or the price elasticity of demand affects the tax shifting that takes place. Finally, we comment on the policy implications of constant tax shifting such as the predictability of the incidence of the tax burden.

On the tail of changes to testing policies and other graduate admissions practices through the COVID-19 era, 2023 saw a further major change in the admissions landscape through the U.S. Supreme Court’s striking down of race-based affirmative action in admissions processes through the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) cases. The ETS Research Institute and NAGAP, the Association for Graduate Enrollment Management, partnered on research to understand how this ruling is affecting interest holders and, in particular, how it has affected practices of holistic admissions, which have often been defined with respect to the explicit goal of promoting diversity (see, e.g., Glazer et al., 2014). This research note focuses on the viewpoints of graduate admissions officers and department leaders surveyed in 2024 on the effects they expected to see from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in admissions processes and on the reactions that they were seeing at their own institutions. Suggested citation: Gooch, R., &amp; Haviland, S. (2025). Graduate admissions after affirmative action: Results from the 2024 ETS/NAGAP Survey (Research Notes). ETS. https://doi.org/10.64634/5s9fnm23

The last decades have witnessed a sustained focus from local and regional policymakers on digitalisation and smart strategies. While these strategies have contributed to a uniformization of infrastructure and access to digital products, they have also created inequalities of their own. Recent studies indicate that, rather than reducing existing socio-economic inequalities, the digitalisation process has generated new gaps, particularly in relation to skills and outcomes. A solution that has been successfully tested, but which is still lacking proper wide deployment is represented by digital helpers, considered to be the missing link of the digitalisation process. This research note proposes a framework and a strategic matrix for policy design that connects the digital helper's role, typical tasks covered, and the level of inequality addressed, as well as a theoretical solution to reduce the misunderstandings arising from administrative variations.

Intergovernmental coordination remains a multidimensional and ever-contested concept, involving complex interactions across multiple levels of governance. In spite of the rich tradition of federalist scholarship, existing research often relies on descriptive, country-centric approaches and remains largely at a meta-theoretical level, offering limited insight into the mechanisms shaping coordination. This research note argues that the prevailing institutionalist bias overlooks the crucial role of individual political actors. It advocates methodological pluralism to capture both formal and informal processes. By examining the incentives of executives, ministries, political parties, lobbyists, and civil society, it disentangles the “unified actor” premise and provides a roadmap for advancing theory and empirical rigor in multilevel governance.

This research note provides a theoretical exploration of how misogynist “incel” (involuntary celibate) communities might adapt to and exploit developing technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR) and the emerging metaverse. Drawing on sociologist Erving Goffman’s concept of frame analysis, we examine how immersive technologies could transform incel activity, identity construction, and modes of interaction. After reviewing the current literature on incels and immersive technologies, we propose five hypotheses regarding the potential affordances of these virtual spaces for incel ideology and action. We argue that the evolution of incel subcultures into these environments may not only deepen echo chambers of misogyny but also complicate efforts to moderate and intervene in gender-based harms online. This exploratory work aims to inform future empirical research on online violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Web 3.0 digital spaces and beyond.

Research note: Marek's disease oncogene Meq directly regulates CD30 high expression through binding to two regions in promoter.

The Diamond Model of Epigenetic Healing is a conceptual framework linking epigenetic adaptation with population-level resilience. Drawing on the metaphor of carbon’s transformation into diamond under stress, the model emphasizes that environmental and social stressors leave measurable epigenetic marks, but targeted interventions can modulate or reverse harmful modifications, termed “epigenetic healing.” This research note summarizes the model, synthesizes supporting evidence, and proposes directions for integrating molecular indicators into public health strategies. Interventions such as prenatal care, nutrition, trauma-informed services, pollution remediation, and social equity policies can produce measurable improvements in epigenetic profiles and downstream health outcomes. Identifying epigenetic markers as population-level indicators reframes prevention to include molecular restoration. Key next steps include community intervention trials with pre/post epigenetic measures, longitudinal cohort analyses linking social determinants with molecular change, and policy evaluation incorporating epigenetic outcomes. Recognizing epigenetic healing reorients public health toward active restoration, supporting longer, healthier lives and improved biological resilience across generations.

This research note introduces a scenario-based interview technique to investigate wildlife value orientations within China's distinct sociocultural context. Standard qualitative methods often struggle to elicit authentic insights in cross-cultural settings, especially where abstract concepts like “values” lack linguistic or conceptual equivalence. Through six carefully constructed, culturally resonant, and context-rich scenarios, the study revealed latent values underpinning human–wildlife interactions in China, highlighting culturally grounded orientations such as hierarchical harmony, pragmatic consumption, and deference to authority, dimensions often overlooked in Western-centric frameworks. Findings demonstrate that scenario-based techniques effectively capture latent value systems and illuminate participants' underlying reasoning processes. This methodological approach offers significant implications for conservation professionals and researchers seeking context-sensitive tools to inform culturally appropriate wildlife management and policy strategies, underscoring the necessity of culturally attuned methods in global human dimensions of wildlife research.

This research note reflects on the making of the 2025 Global Philanthropy Environment Index (GPEI), an international index that assesses the enabling environment for philanthropy across 95 economies. Philanthropy is an umbrella concept that encompasses diverse meanings and traditions worldwide, and research on global philanthropy is often relative rather than absolute when comparing across differing legal, political, and social contexts. This reflection explores: 1) the challenges of undertaking comparative research 2) the process of developing an international philanthropy dataset, and 3) the practical benefits of comparative philanthropy data.

Research on childlessness by educational attainment typically focuses on lifetime childlessness at age 40 or 45, with less known about younger ages. This study examines trends in childlessness by age and education for men and women in Finland from 1987 to 2022, using total population register data. We focus on childlessness at ages 30, 35, 40, and 45. The results show that childlessness has increased at most ages, with acceleration in the past decade. At ages 40 and 45, the association between education and childlessness is negative for men—men with lower education are more often childless—while among women, the association has reversed from positive to negative in recent years. At age 30, childlessness is higher among the highly educated, reflecting later entry into parenthood. At age 35, childlessness has risen across all groups, notably including tertiary-educated men and women. These trends suggest that the increase in lifetime childlessness in Finland is likely to continue and become more widespread.

Research note: Effects of different physical treatments on the solubilization of ovomucin.

ABSTRACT This research note analyzes how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can improve risk management and crisis resilience in the tourism and hospitality industries. Grounded in complexity theory and organizational resilience theory, this research note outlines a conceptual framework for advanced AI risk governance. This framework comprises four integrated components (e.g. predictive surveillance, adaptive response, systemic learning, and resilience feedback loops). These components allow organizations to forecast risks, respond reasonably to them, and establish a regime of incessant organizational learning. This note seeks to initiate the transition from reactive crisis management to focus on learning through the proactive, purposeful integration of AI as a key partner in organizational decision-making. This note offers hospitality managers, destination planners, and policymakers’ valuable insights on organizational resilience and sectoral preparedness through ethically sound, data-enabled governance and integrated risk management systems.

Despite the ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to identify and assess the online activities of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, little is known empirically about their posting behaviours generally or differences in their online behaviours compared to non-violent extremists who share similar ideological beliefs. In the past five plus years, Scrivens and colleagues developed a dataset of posting behaviours of violent and non-violent right-wing extremists (RWEs) found on Stormfront, the oldest, largest, and one of the most influential RWE forums. This work has been presented before key stakeholders around the world and has resulted in various peer-reviewed publications with studies ranging from examining developmental posting behaviours to examining posting behaviours during peak posting days. This Research Note examines policy and investigatory implications, methodological challenges, and avenues for future research on the online posting behaviours of violent and non-violent RWEs.